Environmental Health Division

Source Water AssessmentsSource Water Protection

Information in Source Water Assessments

Source Water Assessments include a variety of information about the water sources used by a public water system including:

Who to contact about the drinking water

Where the drinking water comes from

What is being done to protect the drinking water source

What is nearby that could potentially put the drinking water source at risk

What the public water supplier does to prepare the water for drinking

What is the quality of the drinking water

Developing and Updating Source Water Assessments

The 1996 amendments to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act required MDH to produce Source Water Assessments for all Minnesota public water systems by 2003.

MDH developed the assessments using existing data
such as water sampling results, water system surveys, and well
records. For systems using surface water, the assessment was created
in consultation with representatives from the public water system.

The assessments automatically update as new information is added to MDH's databases.

Using the Information

Some of the ways Source Water Assessments are used include:

Consumers use the information to understand where their drinking water comes
from

Contamination cleanup programs use the information to set priorities and determine
the level of cleanup needed

Permitting programs use the information to assess if a proposed land use has
the potential to adversely impact a public water supply

MDH uses the information when initiating source water protection plans